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Date Posted:Friday, April 26, 11:54:33am
SANTA FE — Manuel Lujan Jr., a New Mexico native son who rose to be a longtime Republican congressman and U.S. Interior secretary, has died at age 90, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office confirmed.

Lujan Jr., who came from a prominent Santa Fe political family, held New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District seat from 1969 through 1988. He was the first Hispanic Republican to join the Congressional Hispanic Congress.

He was later appointed interior secretary by then-President George H.W. Bush in 1989 and held the position for nearly four years.

Lujan Jr. faced scrutiny in the high-profile Cabinet position, and said after leaving the office in 1993 that “no one is satisfied.”

“If you do something that’s pro-development, you get the environmental groups against you, and if you do something that’s pro-environmental, you get the industry groups after you,” he told the Associated Press at the time. “What I tried to do — and I think I was successful in doing — was to bring a balance between the use of resources on public lands and environmental concerns.”

Lujan Jr., whose family owns an insurance agency in Albuquerque, is a distant cousin of Lujan Grisham, who was elected governor last year.

In a statement, the Democratic governor described Lujan Jr. as the “picture of a statesman.”

“In a lifetime of public service, over the course of ten congressional terms and four years as secretary of the interior, he fought for his constituents, striving for balance between competing interests, never forgetting that New Mexicans’ collective best interest comes first,” Lujan Grisham said.

“Over the years, it was frequently assumed Manuel was my uncle,” she added. “He wasn’t, but he always treated me like his favorite niece. He was a gentleman; he was generous; he was a thoughtful public servant. I will miss him, and I know New Mexico will long cherish his memory.”

Lujan Grisham also ordered all state flags to be flow at half-staff in honor of Lujan Jr.